the truth is, grover norquist is not just a guy. he's a guy who heads a lobby group with very powerful resources. one that uses millions of dollars in funding to get candidates elected and get others defeated. that is not democracy at work. that is lobbying money at work. and pledges like this don't make sense in a dynamic economy. we got to give our elected officials the tools and the leeway to do their jobs properly. and not hamstring them with promises that are made in a vacuum. promises that are made without context. so if members of congress, republicans and in particular, were able to free themselves from norquist's shackles, and take a real look at the merits versus the risks of raising taxes, they would see something interesting. while raising taxes is never ideal, the net effect to the economy of increasing the tax burden only on that portion of one's income that is higher than a quarter of a million dollars, by 4.6 percentage points, would have a negligible effect. that's because the proportion of what you need to spend on